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The joy of playing in the dirt while producing fresh vegetables or flowers makes gardening an extremely popular hobby. This is a low-cost form of recreation, as all it takes is a little dirt, a packet of seeds and some water to get started. Studies show that gardening is a more effective stress-reducer than reading a good book. Gardening also promotes physical health through exercise and the production of nutritious food items.

Second only to gardening, Americans are jumping on the genealogy bandwagon by storm. As baby boomers move into retirement age, some of them seek a connection to their ancestors. Popular websites like Ancestry.com and FamilyTree.com offer large databases of census and public record data for a monthly subscription fee.

The advent of the digital camera makes photography a popular hobby choice for Americans. After the camera is paid for, the hobby is virtually free since hobbyists can shoot hundreds of pictures without worrying about the cost of processing film. Post-production software programs provide a fun way to tweak those not-so-perfect pictures on the home computer.